Robert Harling’s Steel Magnolias, which opened on September 20 for a two-week run at Nairobi’s Phoenix Theatre, was full of calamity, especially on September 27, when I watched it. Harling wrote the play in 1987 as a way of dealing with the pain caused by the death of his sister, who suffered from diabetes. The play, set in Truvy’s hair salon, starts off very cheerily, with the planning and preparation for Shelby’s (Fridah Muhindi) wedding.